


Whipstaff Manor Hotel

by 2Due



Category: Casper (1995)
Genre: Creepy stuff, Gen, Halloween adventure, Modern Setting, Mystery, Years Later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:01:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27311581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2Due/pseuds/2Due
Summary: Many years have passed since Dr. Harvey and his daughter moved in Whipstaff manor, many things have changed...Whipstaff Manor Hotel is today a famous themed hotel with a long list of bookings. One day, right before Halloween, three weird singers appear in town and things couldn't get any crazier.Three mysterious characters will drive ghosts nuts and one of them holds a long forgotten secret.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**PROLOGUE**

“Absolutely not!”

Kat crossed her arms, puffing out her cheeks annoyed, glaring back at the tall ghost. “You sure have a thick head for being transparent...” Before he could add a nasty comment, she cut him off, “This place is a sinkhole and you all well know! We can no longer sustain it, we’ll be forced to move and you guys will return haunting a decaying, sad, old castle. Humiliating, wouldn’t it be? Fun over for who knows how long.”

Stretch scoffed, but his brothers looked pretty concerned at the thought of not being able to tease Doc and their new target, Angus, ever again.

“We have workers ready to go, it’s just 5 rooms on a floor, you have the whole manor for yourself and the underground will be locked up.”

“You’ll bring more skinbags in this household! Consider yourself lucky we accepted him and his servers already!” He pointed at the young man behind her.

Kat “Didn’t look like a sacrifice, you immediately took a like on poor Angus, teasing him and treating him like a punching bag all day long!”

Angus gulped, but he walked closer, gently holding Kat by her shoulders. “I-I might have an idea.” It took all his courage to not wince under the ghost’s glare. “We already planned it to be a themed hotel… you three could help us with special effects… you know… people could get here to be scared.”

Kat looked at her fiancée with a mix of confusion and interest, that was something she didn’t think about, though she wasn’t sure the ghost would accept-

A big grin appeared on Stretch’s face. “Go on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set in current time: Halloween 2020
> 
> Themed hotel for people who want to be scared  
>  The manor has been renewed to have 5 rooms for guests + 1 suit in the main tower
> 
> In 2000 the manor officially turns into a venue for gigs and parties anytime, earlier it was only for Halloween events and special rare occasions  
>  In 2005 it became an hotel
> 
>  **Human cast:**  
>  **• Kat, 38** – Owner and manager  
>  **• Angus, 39** – Special effects technician, Kat’s husband, big fan of Dr. Harvey’s ghost works and studies; Scottish origins, owner of an ancient castle in Scotland, his clan’s ghosts haunt it; moved to USA after his grandfather died living at his uncle’s  
>  **• Vivian, 12** – Kat and Angus’ daughter, creative, adventurous  
>  **• Eddie, 8** – Kat and Angus’ son, shy, gentle, curious  
>  **• Dr. James Harvey, 60** – Ghost therapist, busy man, well known in the ghost community, often called to work away with relatives of ghosts, works in the library of the manor, has a private room and an office  
>  **• Dorothy Helen Woodcutter, 65** – Used to be Angus’ caretaker, amazing cook, plump, sassy, spoils kids  
>  **• Ailbeart MacQuien III, 87** – Majordomo, proud, strong-willed and wise, promised to serve Angus
> 
> ================================================
> 
> Man, it's good to be back :>  
>  I haven't written a fanfic in forever and I wanted to make something small and special for Halloween!  
>  Always been a big fan of the Casper movie from 1995, pretty much grew up with it, and I recently rewatched having a blast x3 A little idea crawled in my head and wanted to write something out of it.  
>  I hope you enjoy this little journey! Don't forget to be spooky and have fun in such a dark time 
> 
> I also kind of want to return to my previous Legend of Zelda fanfic, Tears of Light and Blood, I'm surprised there are people still following it and I'm sorry I stopped so abruptly. I never stopped thinking about it and I have few ideas for it.
> 
> Thank you once again and see you soon :3


	2. Chapter 2

**NEWSPAPER**

It was a rare calm evening at Whipstaff Hotel, cold and windy, perfect for some peaceful newspaper reading on a favourite sofa… or so was what a tall lanky ghost believed. A way too cheerful red-haired girl was sitting on his lap, covering most of the pages. The 12 year old was focused on her drawing and using him as a pencil holder, stabbing his ectoplasm with a dozens of coloured pencils. She even thoughtfully picked a few colours, placing back others in his torso and arms, to then return to her art.

Stretch though didn’t mind that one bit, he silently allowed her to invade his space and held her pencils without thoughts. Thing was, he had a big soft spot for Vivian and her younger brother, Edward. Everyone in the manor knew that, but hell could freeze over before the hot headed ghost would say it out loud.

“This or this?” She suddenly asked, showing him two pencils of similar colours. To him, honestly, those looked exactly the same… He nodded randomly at one and observed her thinking about it. “Yeah, you’re right.” She stabbed him with the rejected one and returned to colouring the dragon she drew that very afternoon. She was a big fan of those beasts, dinosaurs and cats, and also of weird pocket-creatures things, her room was filled with drawings and plushies of those. She’s been a bad influence on Casper in a very short time.

Suddenly a light knock on the open door. “I knew I’d find you here.” Kat smiled, crossing her arms.

Stretch quickly let all the pencils drop to the floor, much to Vivian’s dismay, before she could say hi to her mother. “Take her, if you _please._ ” He hissed without looking at Kat. Vivian groaned hopping off to collect her things, to then silently snicker as she saw a ghostly tail secretly helping out.

“Come on, Vivi, time for bed, leave the grouch alone.” Kat walked in and leaned against the table, trying to peek at the front page of the newspaper. “What weird stories has the town got to say today?”

Vivian got her items and whispered a gentle “Good night of fright, Uncle Stretch.” The ghost gave her a half smile before she left and resumed being with his usual pissed frown. “Same things from yesterday.”

“A-ha…” Kat quickly snatched the page from his grip, peeling it from the rest of the newspaper, happily reading through the titles. He gave her a glacial glare, but nothing more, giving the pages a whip to fix them. “Another sighting of the supposedly giant snake-ghost,” she snorted, “this morning at dawn nearby the main park. And it comes with a dark, blurry as heck photo, haha, classic.”

“Not a co-worker, that for sure. Probably some stupid prank of a stupid fleshbag.”

“Such a disgrace to your kind’s reputation.” She chuckled and went on. “Acrobatic trio of singers conquers everybody’s awe with improvised shows down the streets. - Who on Earth writes these articles…? - The trio, formed by…ah…” She stopped sharply and Stretch raised an eyebrow at her.

“Been wanting to update you, by the way, somebody booked the suite for a whole week. Got a call a couple of hours ago.” She looked at him, well knowing she got his attention. He quickly showed a great interested, proudly showing a malicious grin. “They requested extra scares.” Kat neatly folded the page, showing him the picture of the singing trio, tapping it with a finger.

Stretch’s shrieking laughter echoed in the whole castle as he snatched the page and dashed off after his brothers, leaving the room in a tornado of papers.

Kat smiled satisfied holding the collar of her sweater.

Screams of guests soon filled the dark corridors of the mansion.


	3. Chapter 3

**STRANGE LITTLE THINGS**

“Sure there’s a lot of people around…” Vivian couldn’t help but note it as she and her brother walked out from the bookstore. Little Eddie stopped as the bag he was holding was sliding off his grip, so Vivian came to his help. “Careful with that, grandpa wants them intact.”

“I know, I know!” He energetically hugged the bag. “These books are safe with me!” As he said that, a small booklet slipped out, but never touched the ground. It quickly flew back in the bag as a ghostly giggle chimed above them. Casper was with them, invisible to the eye.

As they headed down the main street, they all clearly heard music and singing getting louder and a group of teens rushed out from a cafè, running toward the bridge. Most of them were already holding their phones out and started to sing along, but there was still no sign of the source of the music.

The siblings shared a confused look. “Casper, do you see anything? What’s going on?”

“Nothing from here, let’s take a look.”

The music got louder and louder as they got closer to the bridge, the singing voices were incredibly melodic and kept the beat strong and going.

“They’re coming this way!” Said a boy and some of the young people exploded in a loud cheer.

There was still no clear vision of what was going on, not until everyone turned to look up at the roof of a close building, where a trio landed singing on top of their lungs “ _The time warp”_ and playing a guitar like no tomorrow. More people joined the madness of the moment, having fun in an explosive wave of energy. Everyone had their hands in the air, dancing following the words and soon a couple of bags of books got abandoned on the ground as the kids starting jumping excited at the beat. Even Casper joined, flying closer to the roof so he could clearly see the singers, a lady and two guys, yet he got no real time to give them a closer look as they literally jumped off on the last note of the song, each doing acrobatics and perfectly landing below, right on the rail of the bridge, before quickly run off parkouring among boats resting in the small bay, poles and walls. A new song started as they went and part of the crowd tried to keep pace with them.

Eddie was laughing his lungs out and Vivian sat on a step, giggling and trying to breathe. “Wow, that was fun!” He said recollecting the books. “Who were those guys?”

Vivian too picked her bags up. “I think they’re the guys I saw on the newspaper, they arrived in town the other day and at school everyone is talking about them.” She looked around hoping to see a glimpse of Casper. “Come on, let’s go home, grandpa is waiting.”

“Y-Yeah…” The ghost’s voice seemed weird.

“Is everything ok?” She asked, frowning.

Casper coughed and he seemed to catch himself. “Yes, yes, of course! Let’s hurry home, come on!” Though something was bothering him, a curious feeling… one of the singers was wearing sunglasses, yet he could have sworn he was looking straight at him the moment he jumped off the roof…

Angus was at the reception when he saw his kids entering the hall, talking to his father-in-law, Dr. Harvey, about few events programmed for the week. “Ohi, there they are! With perfect timing!” He quickly went to help them out with the bags. Eddie got grumpy as his dad tried to get the books out of his grip, he was going to deliver them to grandpa James himself!

“Here you go, grandpa! All the books you asked!” The little one proudly exclaimed.

“Just what I needed, thanks, kiddo. Come on, help me get them in order on the shelves.” Doc collected everything and guided them all into the library, where his private studio was. The kid shyly started sharing about the small encounter on the bridge, impressing Doc on the spot. “It was short, but it was very hypnotic! Then they jumped off from that high!”

Vivian followed them just briefly before announcing, “I’ll go check on mom, dad.” Then she turned to Casper, who turned visible as he entered the library. “Wanna come?”

“Sorry, I have a match in a bit.” He admitted. In the last years he found himself getting quite interested into technology and videogames and, since the manor got turned into a hotel, he ended up having more free time. No more extra chores, no more cleaning after his uncles and his uncles themselves slightly warmed up to him. Not too much, but it was better than nothing. He found a passion in learning and got himself a nice small group of friends online. Obviously no one knew he was a ghost and when using the webcam, he used an avatar rigged on his face for movements.

Casper waved goodbye and off he went, eager to start the computer and join his team in a match of- “What are you doing in my room…?” Nothing could have prepared him to find the ghostly trio running through his shelves, checking books, files and old documents…

Fatso awkwardly closed a very old binder, making few papers fly out; Stinkie secretly placed a book back on the shelf and Stretch simply groaned, rolling his eyes.

“Looking for something.” The lanky one dryly said.

Casper gaped at them, incredulous. “In the old family papers…? What could you ever find in there?”

Stretch closed the files he had, annoyed, and turned to look at the nephew. “Nothing you have to worry about. Go back to your games. Guys, let’s go.” He ordered and quickly flew out of the room, followed by the other two, who looked quite uneasy.

Casper was left confused, looking at them go and… of course he had to tidy up after them, they made a big mess of papers, notes, photos and even his textbooks. He sighed big time, but he would fix it later, his friends were already waiting.

“Are you _really_ sure you saw this guy already?” It was the 10th time Fatso asked and that made him deserve a slap so hard to flatten him on his bed. Stretch didn’t repeat himself another time…

Stinkie sat on his own bed holding the newspaper from the night before, the one with the singers’ photo. “This guy cannot be any older than 40,” he pointed at the one with the sunglasses, “how can he have anything to do with Tommy?” John Thomas was their younger brother and Casper’s father.

Stretch snatched the page and looked at the picture again. There were a young lady with tied hair, a blond hippie smiling guy and another guy with small round sunglasses with long black hair. Clara, Regjnald and Lewis were the names written below.

“Maybe he’s his nephew?” Fatso offered as he peeled himself off the bed, struggling a bit.

“I’m sure of what I sai-“ Stretch sharply froze as for a split second he saw the guy in question in the picture move, almost imperceptibly, yet he was sure of that as well. “Who’s messing with the paper?” He growled, that was a very old trick to scare the fleshies and he was going to have none of it. Seeing his brothers denying though transformed his anger in confusion.

Later that evening, the few guests were all in the dining room for dinner, enjoying the little scares that never abandoned them during their stay. It was a standard at the Whipstaff hotel, you were getting spooks at night and even at dinner, and often the evening meal was themed after a movie or a show, could have even games and puzzles to solve and that entertained the hell out of the guests. Nobody came to rest or relax, everyone came to be scared and have fun.

Kat was at the reception working at the computer and having a little chat with Ailbeart, the old butler, both enjoying listening to the screams and laughs from the other room. One thing he liked to point out was how outrageous Dorothy’s cooking must have been that evening. He joked of course, Dorothy was an amazing cook and had a lot of creativity with her presentations, he had known her for decades and he liked to tease her just as much she liked to tease him.

“I must say, the trio is slacking off, at this point there were people usually running away from their dinner.” He added.

Kat nodded “Yeah, they looked weirdly nervous today…”

Ailbert scoffed. “Stage fright, I assume, they haven’t had patrons in the suite in quite some time.” He smirked slightly.

Kat let out a loud snort. “Ailbert!”

A couple of hours later they could hear a car parking right outside.

Ailbert fixed his bow tie and headed to the door. “Show time, child.” He told Kat as he took position.

They could see a single figure outside the door, her shadow on the glass moved closer at every step, but right before the big automatic door opened, the lights flickered in the whole mansion, dropping a curtain of darkness for a solid second before lights came by again. Kat and Ailbert shared a look, it was not something common to happen…

The big doors opened and a single lady walked in, cheerful and looking quite eager. “Oh good evening!” She greeted Ailbert, who responded with a smile and a little bow. From her accent, it was clear she was Italian. She smiled back and headed to the reception, dragging her luggage along. She clearly was the lady of the singing trio, a bit robust, tall woman in her late twenties, grey-blue eyes and with an incredibly long light brown braid, down to her hips, wagging behind her back at each step she took. She warmly saluted Kat, presenting herself as Clara and giving her the ID card. “I called for the suite for 3 people.”

Kat had a bit of trouble to understand the Italian ID card she was given, but took it for good. “Sure thing! I’m Kathleen. Please, follow me, I’ll show you your room.” She took the keycard and guided her to the only lift of the structure, the only way to reach the suite. “Are your colleagues joining later?”

Clara nodded. “I’ll have to leave in a bit to go get them, they got stuck with some issue.” She chuckled.

At the suite door, Kat swiped for her and handed her the key. “As soon as you’re ready, I’ll give you a tour of the manor and show you the stage.” On the phone, they managed to arrange a small gig for Halloween.

“Thank you so much. Perfect, I’ll reach you in few minutes.” And she disappeared behind the door.

Kat returned to her desk where she found the ghostly trio waiting for her. All of three showed a wicked smile, well knowing their new target finally arrived.

“At least the lady is here.” Stretch said.

“She looks innocent enough.” Fatso added.

“A nice practice round to start.” Stinkie rubbed his hands.

Kat looked up at them and scoffed, showing a small wicked smile herself. “Scare her shitless, boys.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here for who wants to check out Casper's father's wiki page  
> https://casper.fandom.com/wiki/J.T._McFadden
> 
> =========
> 
> Thank you kindly to who liked the first part! Reading your comments made me literally glee!   
> I hope you'll enjoy this new chapter and get ready, buckle the fuckle up, the next ones are going to be creepy >:3


	4. Chapter 4

**The Singing Trio**

The hotel had its own lists of rules and conditions: one for clients, who could easily read it online, one for staff and one for ghosts. Yes, even the ghosts had strict rules they needed to follow, mostly for the clients’ wellbeing. Some types of scares and tricks were forbidden and at the red light of the bell, which was provided in every single room, the scares had to stop to give a truce. Also, no scares in the bathrooms, the clients deserved a bit of privacy.

Things though could change under request, especially in the suite, and under signed documents. Normally the scares in the 5 rooms were caused by a mix of ghosts fooling around and special effects, these lasts were controlled from a “Wizard of Oz” type of room with Angus and Kat at the control panels. The suite had no special effects whatsoever, just fake tiny gizmos on the walls, not truly hidden, to give the effect of having some machinery in the room.

The trio of singers had requested no restrictions, they went for the full package for each single minute of their stay, night and day. The only ones who asked for such a treatment were usually exorcists who thought there were real ghosts in the manor and that they could win the fight against evil… Also a couple of ghost hunters. The Ghostly Trio sure had a blast during those times.

Clara closed the door behind her and placed her luggage and her bag aside, taking a deep breath and puffing her cheeks out. She turned the lights on and kicked her shoes and socks off, dropping her coat as well, to then starting admiring the huge room. She was standing in the living room, on a very colourful antique looking carpet, the wall in front of her was a series of door-windows giving on a balcony, facing the town nearby. A big L shaped couch was used as divisor on the right side, with a deer head trophy hanging on the wall. She walked up to it, giving it a good glare. She was happy it was a fake head. “Please don’t be like the one in _The evil dead_.” She scoffed. On the right wall there was a door giving to the first bedroom with its own restroom. Big and spookily furnished, bed looked very nice. There was another balcony, this one giving on the sea. On the left wall a mirror bedroom with restroom as well, no balcony though.

Unbeknown to her, the First phase had begun. The ghosts were hidden all around the room, stalking her and studying her, they loved pinning out the little things that could give the best scares and they had a whole week to give her and her colleagues white hair. They saw her checking her phone for time and mumble to herself something in Italian… She wasn’t acting like those nutcases they had before, like looking for clues and secrets, she seemed very at ease, yet a bit in a hurry. She flattened her luggage on the carpet, at the feet of the couch, opened it and took out few things, neatly placing them on the cushions. A small simple blue and red dragon plush got placed on top of the couch’s back. She got up and made a sign to the plush as if guarding it to be alert before heading to the balcony on the town. “Uh! Oh!” She jumped feeling her bare feet touch the cold floor. “Freaking chilly…” Clara leaned against the handrail and brought a hand to her mouth. The note she emitted was incredibly sharp, long and ending with a sharper higher note, a melodic call which echoed all around the bay. It was so sudden and alien sounding it even sent chills down the ghosts’ spines. After few seconds, a distant similar call responded, icy yet chipper. Clara happily drummed her hands on the rail and trotted back inside, abandoned the open luggage there and went back downstairs to meet Kat.

As she left, the ghosts made their clear appearance in the room, confused by what they just witnessed. Fatso was still trying to unplug his ear with his pinkie. “That was kinda weird.”

“Yeah, what was that? They must have heard her even down Portland.” Stinkie’s eyes quickly landed on the little dragon plush and he got closer to squint at it. “This little thing ain’t right… Looks suspicious.” Fatso agreed, there was a weird aura in the room.

Stretch groaned and slapped some sense in both their empty heads. “Stop fooling around! We have work to do!”

Meanwhile downstairs Clara had reached Kat at the reception. Kat found it odd she was bare feet, but she had seen way too many odd things to care about it. She showed her the dining room, the tea room, the little museum room where the story of the mansion was told, and in the end she showed her the big party room, a neat room already decorated for Halloween, stage included, yet…

“Forgive me, but I have to run, we’ll check the stage when I’ll get back with my uncles. Those two are driving me nuts tonight.”

Kat shrugged with a smile. “No problem at all, you’ll find me at the desk even after midnight.”

And Clara was off… just like that.

Kat returned to her desk and noticed Casper gingerly floating nearby, ready to chat and gossip a bit about the new client. In the background there were the usual screams and noises of other patrons.

It was about 10.30pm when they heard voices coming from outside and finally the big door opened, showing Clara alongside two men. Kat and Casper were still at the desk, the ghost obviously invisible as the guests appeared, but Kat could have sworn to have heard Casper gasp for a moment and felt his cold being float behind her chair.

The trio approached and Clara presented them. “Kat, these are my uncles Regj and Lewis.”

“My, very good evening, ma’am! We’re so happy to finally be here! We heard so much about your hotel!” Regj was a pure ball of energy, tall and quite muscular, with an explosion of golden curls tied up in a ponytail over his head. He was quite showing his personality with colourful yet elegant clothes, a lot matched the bright green of his big eyes. At his arm he had the other man’s arm hooked up, which was gently released as Lewis bowed his head to Kat.

“Pleasure to meet you, lady.” Lewis was the polar opposite of Regj… His voice was flat and almost without emotion and he looked quite unusual, physically speaking. He towered over the others, he looked very skinny and pale, long straight black hair let loose and just pulled behind his shoulders, covering his ears. Pointy chin, thin lips. Small round sunglasses present. He could have been easily a vampire from how he dressed too, very elegant navy clothes with white and silver details. Both of them were in their early 50s, probably, the newspaper picture gave them no justice.

Kat welcomed them warmly, honestly pleased to have all three of them in her hotel. She asked for their documents and to sign the agreement papers for the suite conditions they had established previously on the phone. Clara had signed already, so Regj signed next to her signature. Kat gave Lewis a pen, but she stopped as she noticed a new thing.

Lewis chuckled. “Polydactylism, my dear.” He proudly showed her his hand, he had long well-formed fingers, yet seven of them, same on the other hand. “Runs in my family.” He was given the pen and Regj tapped where to sign for him.

“His side of the family, huhuhu.” The blondie added.

“Quite interesting, sirs. You know, I have a dear friend who just has four on each hand.” She said, well knowing Casper was pouting behind her.

“No need to be so formal with us, darling, we want to feel young still today.” Regj winked, making her blush a bit.

“Ehy Lewis, want to check the stage now or later?” Clara shyly asked him.

“Tomorrow morning.” He dryly replied, yet without looking at her, his face looked always forward. Noticing that, Kat wondered if he was blind. Casper on the other hand, felt under exam, he was still invisible yet the gothic man gave him a weird feeling, as if he was staring at him, the same feeling he felt that very morning.

“I’ll show you the path to your room, then.” She gave the men a keycard each and started heading to the lift, when her husband and kids appeared from the door behind the desk.

“Time to say goodnigh- Oh! Good evening!” Angus wasn’t expecting the new guests and he sent an apologetic look at Kat.

Kat scoffed and shook her head. “This is my husband Angus, he’s the special effect technician. He’s the one who will take care of the scares. And these are Vivian and Eddie.”

The kids’ eyes were glued on the singers, both gaping in awe.

“Oh my god, you’re the acrobatic singers!” Vivian said, excited.

“We saw you this morning!” The little boy tried to make his voice be heard, but his loudest was pretty much a whisper compared to his sister’s.

Regj bounced closer, loving their energy. “Did you like the little show? I’m Regj by the way! Tomorrow you’ll see a lot more and for Halloween we’ll make a biiiiig show!”

“Can’t wait! I heard so much about you from my friends! Everyone at school is talking about you!”

Regj visibly blushed, bringing a hand to his cheek. “Oh my, for real? D’aww… I hope they say I’m not ugly!”

Vivian snorted. “Of course not! But is it true you can sing like a woman? A friend of mine said so.”

Regj straightened up proud, cleared his throat and his voice completely changed, sounding like a lady, clear and crispy. “ _Your friend heard that well, darling, I love changing my voice while singing, it allows me to get to higher notes._ ” He cleared his throat again and laughed, his normal voice was back. Everyone clapped and Clara elbowed him for showing off.

Vivian had huge eyes just for him and immediately asked him for an autograph. Kat sighed and went to fetch a paper for her, which Regj happily wrote a long inscription and signed, passing it then to the other singers. Once gotten her little prize to show off at school, she moved to Clara, asking her if her long braid was real.

Eddie in the meantime couldn’t move his eyes off Lewis.

“What can I do for you, young man? You can call me Lewis.” The tall dark guy gently said.

The kid flinched and tried to hide a bit behind his father, but slowly got a bit of courage and spoke, “Y-You’re… so tall…”

Lewis couldn’t hold a soft chuckle. “I am.”

Angus suddenly stepped in, “Forgive our kids, if they bother you-“ but he stopped as Regj waved him to not worry.

“There’s no bother at all. I always have time for kids.” Lewis added and he crouched so Eddie would feel less threatened. “I feel you have questions.”

Eddie fidgeted with his shirt and nodded. “Is it true you have a spooky laugh? My friend said so…”

“Judge yourself, pup.” He stood up and both Regj and Clara shared a look, smirking. The laughter Lewis let out was incredibly loud and perfect for a mad scientist, shrieking and sharp. The whole manor heard him and some of the other guests started screaming and laughing, thinking it was another scare. Everyone had goose bumps in the end and the kids clapped excitedly. They were used to the ghosts’ laughs, but this, in their opinion, was much better.

“Wow! That was crazy!” Eddie quickly remembered he was shy and recoiled his energy, still looking eager to talk to Lewis.

“I thank you, Eddie.” Lewis bowed his head to him. “Anything else you want to ask?”

“I…uh… really like your sunglasses… Is it ok if I try them?”

At such request, Lewis turned his head to the parents. “I’m afraid that removing my glasses,” he moved them slowly on the tip of his nose, enough to show them –and not the kids- the lack of eyes on his face. Make-up was clearly applied to hide a big, hollow scar, “might cause the children to have nightmares.” And he pushed the glasses back to place.

Both Kat and Angus stared in shock, neither of them able to say something to not sound rude.

“Though, if you allow me,” Lewis continued, “I have spare new ones I can give them.” He took out two pairs of the same type of sunglasses from his small shoulder bag, both neatly packed, showing them to the parents. “I keep losing them. Always have a spare.” He chuckled.

Angus awkwardly nodded. “Fine with m-me.”

Lewis gave the little gifts to the children who happily took them, thanking him dearly.

“Ok, kids, time to hit the bed, say goodnight and off you go, let our new guests have their rest.” Kat added, playfully shooing them away. “Follow me, then, I’ll guide you to your room.” She then offered the singers, returning to her original task.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And happy birthday to me for turning 30 yesterday! *Totally not panicking*  
> lol I hope you enjoy this silly chapter!   
> Catch you later and as always, thanks for reading! :3


	5. Chapter 5

**THE FIRST SCARE**

A while earlier…

The ghostly trio was just starting planning what to do for their scares. They didn’t have much info about the guests, thought they could still see few things from Clara’s open luggage, understand a bit of her tastes and what might get her screaming. Each of them was going to target one guest as first try and sketch something out. Obviously Stretch was targeting Lewis, he craved to understand why that man was giving him such weird feelings. Fatso would have targeted the lady and Stinkie the blondie.

One of the many rules they had to follow was to preferably not touch any of the guests’ belongings or at least place them as they were left.

“Guys, did you move that dragon plush?” Stinkie suddenly asked as he was placing back the many books they found in the luggage.

The trio looked around the room for that damn thing, Kat would have ironed their ectoplasmic sheets if a client went to complain about a missing object. Eventually with the tail of his eye, Stretch noticed something up on a shelf. Movement? Wind? He retrieved the little plush.

“I don’t know why, but that thing gives me the creeps!” Stinkie hissed, hiding behind Fatso.

“Grow some dignity! It’s just a toy, you idiot!”

It was then they could hear some soft singing from the parking lot below. Stretch placed the dragon where Clara had left it, on the couch facing the room and he joined the other two ghosts on the balcony. His grin grew and quickly grabbed his brothers by the shoulders, “Show time, boys!” dragging them downstairs, wanting to finally see the singers in flesh.

Little they knew that the dragon plush was now facing the door.

“How to make yourself immediately spotted uh?” Clara grumbled as she let her uncles in first.

Lewis couldn’t hold a chuckle as he stepped in, while Regj dumped their backpacks on the carpet. The blonde buff hippie quickly jumped around admiring the whole room, announcing he was getting the room with the balcony. “And look at this tiny kitchen!!! This place has everything!”

“I’ll take the couch.” Lewis was standing right in the middle of the main room, not moving nor touching around. He didn’t even have a stick for blind people to use for orientation, Regj had been his guidance until then.

“I’ll get you a blanket.” Clara nodded and fetched him a fluffy cover from her own luggage. She seemed to check her things thoroughly, yet showed no reaction to what she saw. She let the blanket to her uncle and moved her things to her room.

Regj in the other room was just having a blast with the snacks he found in the mini fridge, gulfing them down. He appeared holding quite a few in his arms. “You gotta try these! The peanut butter just gets stuck into your soul!” He was clearly trying to get his mouth unstuck from too much of it, looking silly and messy.

“Brother, please…” Lewis slowly turned his head to his right, where the deer on the wall was. He stood still for a couple of seconds, then stole a snack from Regj’s grip. “Just to make you happy.” He grinned and popped the chocolate in his mouth.

Regj went to drop a dozen of those on Clara, making her shriek, eventually got kicked out from her bedroom. “Haha! Come on, guys, just relax a little bit.” He looked back at his lanky brother and gently placed a hand on his arm. “Ehy,” He warmly rubbed his back. “You tired? Get some rest.”

Lewis snorted. “Can’t. We have work to do.”

“Not even for five minutes?” Regj smirked and pinched his cheek.

“…five minutes.” His brother knew him way too well.

The ghosts observed them for a little while, well hidden around the room. They weren’t waiting any sign in particular, they could start their scares anytime, didn’t even have to wait for the guests to go to sleep, yet Stretch preferred to study them just a bit more. “Go to your positions, I wanna hear loud screams from both the lady and the hunk.”

Fatso and Stinkie laughed eager and disappeared into the walls, down to the floor, each heading to a bedroom, while Stretch remained in the deer head. He attentively observed his target, Lewis had simply laid on the couch and Regj was placing a wet handkerchief over his face, where his eyes once were. His brother patted his head and went back to his room, where Stinkie was setting his first scene. Also Fatso was ready. Scaring someone who couldn’t see was a challenge, but Stretch was a pro.

First things first: doors slamming shut and locked.

Lights flickered and furniture noisily moved, scratching the floor in all three rooms.

Regj stood looking around for anything stable to lean on and seemed amused by how fast things were starting. “Oh finally!” He screamed so the others could hear him.   
Darkness engulfed him, the lights outside quickly covered by the curtains, leaving him standing in pure silence, yet he was having a blast. He noticed a single eye opening over the wall, trembling and pulsing, glaring at him with such intensity that made him shiver. The eye moved crawling on the wall, emitting a scratching sound and a tinkering quick tapping, leaving behind a trail of other many eyes like itself, different shapes and colours, some creepier than others, all staring Regj down without blinking.   
Soon the whole room was filled with shiny eyes, they were on the walls, on the floor, on the bed, following Regj if he moved. Suddenly a soft single light turned on, showing how quickly the room had rotten away, a foul smell hit the guest’s nose like a brick, making him gag. The eyes pulsed more violently and started crawling to form small groups, which quickly melted into a single bigger eye with different pupils, never once staring away from Regj. “Ugh, they sure initiated the thing with a bang…” It was there he saw the mirror, opposite to the small kitchen. In the reflection the scene looked different, the lights were flickering and he could see the room looked just as good as new, and his own reflection, which had tiny details twisted. In fact, it quickly moved away from the mirror, away from Regj, while he gaped excited. His double trotted happily towards the fridge and opened it. Also the one in Regj’s side opened and a green disgusting smoke poured out, heavy to the floor. The double grabbed one of the snacks and fruit, all floated out from Regj’s side, and as the double ate his, Regj’s rotted in seconds, sloshing to the ground in a black pulp. Regjnald screamed so loudly even the double in the mirror covered his ears. “NOOOOO!!! I WAS SAVING THEM FOR LATER!!!” And he started sobbing…

Clara didn’t even get the time to turn on her laptop when she heard her uncle cheering and the lights died in her room too. She calmly sat on the bed cross-legged, ready to enjoy the first show. She quickly could feel the bed move, as if it was breathing on its own, slowly moving up and down under her. A metallic sound chimed in a weird melody, making her hair stand up, yet she really looked into it for fun. She hugged her pillow and noticed her famous dragon plush being pushed next to her. “Ah, no, not him.” She quickly collected it and hid it between herself and the pillow. A growl echoed at her side and something moved. A big shadow darted around and soon a blue light appeared. It was no normal light though, a huge gaping mouth emitted it from inside, a twisted, deformed beast emerged from the carpet, more teeth than skin, howling in chilly whispers and stomping closer to the bed. Its dozens teeth glowed making it look bigger in the dark, towering over the bed end and slowly climbing onto it. Clara observed entertained, nodding to herself. “You must be hungry, honey.” She joyfully grabbed one of the snacks her uncle left her, unwrapped it and tossed it into the huge drooling mouth.   
The distorted creature gulped surprised and froze, chewed and dramatically dropped to the floor, disappearing… Light returned normal. Clara blinked a bit shocked to see it over. “That… was it? Come on…”

Lewis was probably unaware of the lights, but he did hear the doors locking and the temperature drop around him. He smoothly sat up, setting aside the handkerchief and he stood still, waiting for something to happen. Whispers itched his ears, swirling around him in a confused tornado of voices, getting quicker and quicker, transforming into children screaming and laughing to abruptly stop. Lewis didn’t move, it was hardly noticeable if he was breathing, he remained undisturbed, leaning his elbows on his knees, his long hair making curtains at the sides of his face. A cold crisp breeze caressed his head and soft scratching sounds got louder and louder as something moved on the leather of the couch. He felt the weight, the strength of claws ripping into the fabrics and how close the sound was. He then heard steps in front of him, shyly approaching, like of a child. “ _Would you play with me?_ ” Lewis showed no reaction. The child asked again, insistent, but nothing, Lewis didn’t move. “ _You’re mean._ ” The child let out a loud shriek, which quickly turned into a tormented, metallic growl.  
Nothing. At this point even Stretch looked impressed.   
The clawed hands on the couch crawled one over the other and caught Lewis’ clothes, tugging him side to side, clearly establishing they were not just an hologram.  
Lewis finally showed a bit of life, turning and raising one arm, but he simply slapped on of the ghost hands before sharply facing back forward, proudly showing a huge, wide grin that would have made anything crawl back into the hole it came out from. “He doesn’t know about the call, does he?”

Regjnald burst into the living room bawling his eyes out and flopping into his brother’s arms for comfort…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ehy all!   
> Hope you enjoy the new chapter :3  
> Gave myself a chance in writing creepy stuff, gotta admit it's hard, but it's fun, I'm satisfied of the result so far  
> Next chapter will come soon, take care and thanks again!


	6. Chapter 6

**THE MORNING AFTER**

Lewis almost fell from the couch as that goofy beast of his brother abandoned himself in his arms. Regj hid his face against his chest, crying and trembling while his older sibling just sighed.

“Did you tell him about the call?” Lewis repeated, but his tone was much different from earlier, calm and flat. “Clara? …Darling, are you there?”

Regj sniffled. “She’s in her room, brother.”

“Hm. Weird, I was sure was in front of me. Now would you roll off me?”

Stretch stared at Lewis, livid. That man was not normal, that question was not for his niece, not one bit. A sensation crawled on the back of his head, making him angrier and angrier by the second, but he had to let go of the bite and not break the rules, absolutely no direct interaction with the guests. The ghost couldn’t care less about some of the rules, but he promised in front of Vivi and Eddie, so…

He eventually steamed off and stepped back, moving towards the door, never detaching his eyes from Lewis’ figure… heavily feeling observed. The ghost scoffed and left, his brothers had to work alone for the night.

The old clock chimed 9 o’clock and Casper was taking a break from his videogames and studies, it had been a fruitful night and interesting morning, so he was quite in a good mood. Remaining invisible, he wandered around the mansion noticing guests being scared as they left their rooms and some screaming from the dining hall. He recognized some of them, some were regulars since the hotel opened, yet they still jumped at the smallest scares.

He slid downstairs on the handrail and noticed Kat talking to Lewis at the reception.

“Any song at all?” Kat’s tone was a bit in disbelief.

“Any that is good.” Lewis smiled. “We have a wide range of genres.”

“Ah… usually the bands we have here show us a list of songs they’re gonna cover or even some of their own. You have some for Halloween, I’m sure.”

“Plenty. I can arrange you a list without any issue. Genre?”

“What you offer?”

Lewis’ smile turned into a grin. “Rock, pop, swing, country, pirate chantries, Celtic… metal is our forte. We also love cartoon songs and themes.”

Kat chuckled and got some papers in hand. “You sure have a lot of tastes. Rock might go nicely, maybe add some spooky cartoon song too, there’ll be kids for sure.”

“Metal version of _Nightmare before Christmas_?”

“Haha sounds awesome, do add it. Would love to hear the list when you have it. Could it be done by tonight?”

“Even before then, ma’am.”

“Perfect, and… just one thing, Lewis,” She was reading the contract they had signed the day before. “Your brother hasn’t written anything about the payment.”

Lewis tilted his head just slightly. “Nothing.”

Kat looked up at him in confusion. “Nothing…? What about reimbursements? Anything for the show?”

“Nothing,” Lewis repeated and offered her a gentle smile, “we don’t care about money.”

It was the first time ever Kat had found herself in a pickle like that. “Nothing… Ok… I’ll leave it blank in case you change your mind, is it ok?”

Lewis chuckled. “No need.” He adjusted his grip on his walking cane and straightened up. “May I be shown the common room? I’ll prepare the list.”

Kat promptly guided him to a nearby room, offering him a cup of tea.

It was then Casper heard talking from the party room.

Angus was showing the stage to two of the singers, Regj and Clara. There was equipment added to the scene and Clara had just finished connecting her laptop to the control panel of lights. They tried some effects out, sending the room first into darkness and giving a try to lasers and the screens behind the stage. Casper floated closer and noticed Eddie was there too, so he tapped his shoulder to sign his presence. The child giggled and continued to look at the singers with interest. Regjnald was then trying something on the stage, whistling a tune and making some slow acrobatic moves, like elegantly standing on one hand and moving his legs in the air. Hearing Eddie laughing at his show, Regj made goofy moves, standing on the top of his head and moving the legs as if walking upside down, to which Eddie clapped happily. Clara hopped as well on the stage, once again she was bare feet for some reason, and took two long sticks from their equipment. She stood holding one in each hand and said she’ll be trying for acoustics… even Angus made a face, so far none of the musicians they had over were doing what they were, but they were entertaining at least. Even some of the guests shyly appeared in the room, curious about the musicians’ presence, maybe hoping for some song to be played too.

“If you need anything else, just call us, we’ll be at the reception. Feel free to try out whatever you like.” Angus announced, taking Eddie along with him out of the room. Casper followed too, giving a last look at the two who were literally goofing around with the sticks, making rhythmic moves and noises to probably a song they knew, they seemed to be battling under a silent music. Casper would have loved to stay and watch more, but he wanted to spend some time with Eddie first.

Angus joined Kat to discuss about their stuff, while the child had other plans. He noticed Lewis in the common room, sitting perfectly still on one of the couches while a nice cup of tea was brought by Ailbeart.

“I thank you.”

“My pleasure, sir.” Ailbeart bowed out of habit and observed the blind man taking a first sip. “May I ask you one thing?” At that Lewis simply raised his head at him. “I overheard that you and your companions play Celtic music as well?”

Lewis remained silent for a couple of seconds, to then speak in a foreign language, nodding.

Ailbeart’s reaction was a mix of awe and surprise " _Gàidhlig_!” He too quickly started speaking the same language, happily exchanging words.

Eddie was peeking from the entrance, trying to not be seen, and he too gasped hearing the two talking. “Wow, he knows Gaelic!” He whispered to Casper.

“What are they saying?” The little ghost asked, a bit excited.

“Uhh… not sure… something about a violin, I think. They go too fast…”

Lewis suddenly slightly turned his head to the side. “I know you’re there, child. You can join us.”

Ailbeart finally noticed the kid and tsk’d. “Come along, Edward, no need to be sh-“ A loud crashing noise came from the kitchens, making all the presents jolt. The majordomo sighed deeply, already knowing it was probably a joke from the ghosts of the house. “I beg your pardon, sir. I’ll see forward to sharing few more words with you later.” And he quickly left, walking pass the kids who couldn’t hold a giggle.

“Come join me, there are cookies here.” Lewis eventually said calmly and sipped his tea again.

Eddie bit his lips and bravely took a step towards the guest, sitting on the couch in front of him.

“Hello, Eddie, what can I do for you?” He gently pushed the dish with the tea cookies to him with the head of his walking stick, to which the child happily leaned out to grab a bite.

“Uhm… I…” The child stumbled, unable to find his words.

Lewis waited patiently and offered a gentle smile. “I feel you have few questions. Take your time picking one. In the meantime,” Lewis turned to face straight at Casper, “what’s your name, kid? I’m Lewis.” And still with the stick, he moved the dish to the ghost.

Casper jolted so hard his cloak dropped and he became visible again. He and Eddie shared a shocked look. “I-I’m Casper, sir. Nice to meet you... How did you know I was here?”

“You giggled. You have quite light footsteps, I didn’t hear them.”

That statement made the ghost think and he just got on with it, there was nothing wrong if a patron didn’t know there were spirits around. Casper gave a thumbs-up to Eddie with a wink and the kid nodded. He still felt nervous around the blind man, so he still decided to be careful. “Yeah… my friends say the same. You’re a musician, aren’t you?”

“Correct. I play different instruments and I sing. One of my favorites is the violin.”

“Oh, I heard you mentioning it early!” Eddied squeaked in, “And you speak _Gàidhli_ _g_! I thought only my family spoke it.”

“I speak many languages and many dialects. I used to be an ambassador and travel all the time.”

The sound of footsteps from outside the door became louder as Kat approached and she had almost a heart attack seeing Casper in full view. She stopped abruptly and quickly mimicked a _”What are you doing?!”_ at him. The ghost tried to keep cool and pointed at Lewis with a thumb while waving his own hand in front of his face, mouthing that he heard him. Kat looked at him in disbelief and face palmed.

“What is it?” Lewis asked, raising his head.

“Ehh just my mom passing by to say hi!” Eddie tried to cover for her while she made sure no other guest would come by. She so wished there was a door… Lewis nodded and finished his tea. “Do you also sing in other languages?”

“I do. So does my brother and my niece, though they know much fewer.”

“Eheh your brother looks your polar opposite, if I may say.” Casper snorted. Also Lewis found it funny.

“Adopted.” He cleared. “None of us is blood related, but we’re still family.”

“Are you still an ambassador?”

“Oh no, not anymore, but my love for travelling never abandoned me. Music and botanic are the reasons of my trips.”

“What’s bota-nic?” Asked Eddie.

“Plants, dear boy. I’m an expert in plant life and usages.”

“Do you make stuff like magic potions? I saw many cartoons using leaves for those!”

Lewis let out a sudden shrieking laugh, honestly entertained by Eddie’s curiousity. “Sometimes. I’ve often been called an alchemist. And before you ask, yes, I can still tell plants apart even without my eyes.”

“Ehmm… speaking of that…” Eddie tried for words, well knowing his mother was still listening, “the other day we saw you jumping and running… how can you do that?”

Lewis paused, to eventually smile. “It’s thanks to my brother and niece. I always know where they are and they tell me about what I have around me. And just good luck, I still haven’t fallen into a river or slammed against a pole, huhu.”

Casper snorted. “You’re incredibly agile too, I saw your acrobatics,” Lewis bowed his head in thanks, “You said you play various instruments, can you play the piano?” Right behind the couch Lewis was sitting on, there was an elegant black piano time to time guests liked to play.

Lewis grinned and showed his hands, wiggling his 14 fingers. “I’d be a fool if I didn’t know how to use these on black and white keys. You have one here, I assume?”

Eddie hopped off and tapped his arm, shy. “I can show you.” Lewis stood up, towering over them and let the child guide him around, leaning down so Eddie could hold his hand. The kid made the tall guy sit in front of the keys and Lewis started touching around, tasting the size and how many keys there were. He tried a few, testing the sound and if the cords were in tune, nodding glad they were.

“Oh I hear a piano!” Clara popped out of nowhere behind Kat, catching her off guard. “Sorry, sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you. Ehy uncle, wait!” She quickly joined Lewis and Eddie, Casper was quickly gone the moment he heard Kat gasp, just in time to not be seen. Clara leaned against the blind guy, patting his shoulders.

“You have a tune for me, girl?”

She thought for a couple of seconds before patting his back in rhythm with a sort of whistle…

Pam… tsssh… Pam… tsssh…pa-pam…tsssh…pam…tsssh…

Lewis quickly understood and let his hands dance over the keys in a very up-beat, happy tune, as she then gently drummed with her fingers on a wooden part of the piano.

Soon quite a little crowd formed into the room as also Regj joined playing his sax.

-

Later on Casper had to return to his room upstairs for meeting up with his online friend, when he heard laughs coming from one of the studio rooms.

“That’s right! I tormented him for hours and he never stopped crying! Such a crybaby for a hunk!” It was Stinkie’s voice, beaming with pride.

“Mom would kill you if she still finds mold on the walls.” Vivi’s, her giggling was unique.

Casper knocked on the open door. “Ehy guys, I gather it was a successful night?”

Vivi snorted. “Those poor musicians.”

“And interesting night indeed!”

Casper couldn’t avoid noticing the other two uncles were missing. “Where are the others?” It was a bit weird to not see the Trio together after a night of scares.

“I saw uncle Fatso with Dorothy in the kitchens.” Vivi said. “Begging once again for a treat.” She chuckled.

Stinkie groaned. “Yeah, he had a rough start, no wonder he’s hungry.”

“As if he’s never hungry…” commented Casper.

“I’ll go get him, I was going for lunch anyway. Catch you later!” Vivi hopped off her chair and rushed downstairs.

“Bye sweetie. Don’t know about Stretch, he just left last night.”

“Left…?” Casper frowned shook. “What you mean left?”

Stinkie shrugged. “No idea. Still haven’t seen him today. Maybe Fatso knows more… So how are your videogames going?”

Meanwhile Vivi hopped on the handrail of the main staircase and slid down just like Casper taught her, jumping off right before the end. She ran towards the kitchens, noticing how the hotel guests were all in the dining room, enjoying lunch and puzzles of the day. Many were laughing, some arguing and a few screaming for the little scares hiding in the food. She always loved seeing guests involved in those fun activities, her dad was the best in making puzzles and her mom was the best in making things scary and gruesome. Dorothy though was the best in cooking.

Vivi got in the main kitchen room and rushed to the door to the second room, the one just for the family of the mansion. It was there she heard a familiar whining and an angry Scottish lady’s grunting.

“Come on, Woodipie, just a small itty bitty bite? I faced torture last night! I’m starving from shame!”

Fatso was begging once again, but Dorothy had none of it. The chubby red-haired woman violently put the lid over the pot and hit Fatso on the hand with a spoon.

“Serves you right! Choose your target better next time! That lady truly got you served, hoho! I so wished I could’ve seen your face, my dear!” Her thick accent made her words sound so brutal yet so fun to listen to, Vivi could never get tired to listen to aunt Dorothy’s teasing. “Don’t giv’ me that puppy face now! You’ll eat when it’ll be done! And you bet’er not get my floor dirty!”

Dorothy and Fatso were so much fun to look at, the two had bonded many years before and Kat never got tired to say that if Fatso was alive, the two of them would probably end up together. Even today they kinda looked like a married couple. The two spent a lot of time together, teasing one another. Dorothy loved having him as taster and Fatso adored her cooking, but whenever Fatso begged for a treat to cope with something, he could just starve, Dorothy wasn’t going to get him anything. Doc once said she just liked having the control of the situation... and probably liked keeping Fatso on a leash.

“Hi auntie!” Vivi squeaked into the room just to be quickly picked up and squeezed by Dorothy’s arms.

“Sweetie, hiii! Poor thing you must be famished! I got some cullen skink and haggis fritters ready for you! And later you can sink your tiny teeth into some black bun!”

Vivi didn’t even have the time to breathe that Dorothy made her sit at the table and shoved some dishes already in front of her. There was no way to avoid this treatment with Dorothy Helen Woodcutter, whenever she saw a “too skinny” kid, she was not going to leave her/him a moment of peace until they ate all what they were forcefully offered. Of course it was all done with love. Honestly Vivi loved being spoiled like that, there was absolutely no need to object, it was a daily routine for them. “Hi unf-le!” She muffled as she ate. “The of-hers are waifing for you.”

“Oh don’t mind that _big blump of ectoflump_ , darling, what you doing today? Done with your homework?” Dorothy totally forgot of Fatso, wanting to hear all from the kid. It was then that the fat ghost winked at Vivi, from behind Dorothy’s back, and he sneakily aimed a tray of fresh baked shortbreads. Vivi happily distracted Dorothy talking about her plans while seeing Fatso furtively grabbing one-

“PUT THAT DOWN!” Dorothy burst turning around and throwing the spoon at the ghost, who just showed her his tongue and left laughing, already with half tray in his mouth. She didn’t pursue though, after all those were for him.

Fatso rushed upstairs, finding his brother and Casper intensely focused on a talk about some kind of strategy the kid had recently learnt for a game. It was mostly Casper doing the talking… if not all the talking, yet his uncle wasn’t bored by it, he understood not even a tenth of what he was saying, but he still found the topic fascinating, he always had since Casper found his new passions few years back.

“What did I miss?”

Casper took a deep breath, ready to re-explain all of his thing, but Stinkie cut him off.

“You seen Stretch?”

Fatso shook his head while gulping down the last cookies and tray included. “Nah, not since last night. Thought he went to sleep, he was fuming mad!”

“He’s always fuming mad, what’s the deal?” Casper asked.

“Oh more than usual, kid, that blind guy really pissed him off.”

Casper frowned, scoffing. “Since when he has problems scaring people? Sure Lewis seems a tough target, but wouldn’t think he’d be a challenge.”

Fatso shivered, “Yeah, but the guy is creepy… and weird....” And he started laughing mockingly, joined by Stinkie, “And his brother is a coward himbo… and the girl is a sweet cookie… poor, poor brother!”

Stinkie laughed in his face, “Yet she shut your roaring with a candy! Hahahahaaaaaa! All that build-up and you got demolished at the first scare!”

Fatso pouted, crossing his arms in anger. “It was a blow under the belt! I still got her to scream later!”

“Of boredom! She was pitying you! Let’s admit it, you guys are losing your touch! Can’t even scare a guy with no eyes and a weird gal! I’m the one here who got the most out of the night!” He puffed out his chest, smugly.

“Easy when you get the chicken of the group, uh?”

“At least I didn’t abandon my post like you two did,” Stinkie retorted.

“I went back to work though!”

“Guys! Guys!” Casper intervened, still not understanding what happened to Stretch, “What did Lewis do to him to make him go away?”

Both his uncles shrugged.

“And to think he insisted to scare him.” Fatso added, sitting next to Casper on one of the small benches.

“Yeah, since he saw him on the paper, he’s constantly brooding over him.” Stinkie snorted, “Thinks he saw him somewhere decades ago!”

Fatso snickered. “That lanky guy sure looks good for being 200 year old, ah!”

“I think our brother is also losing a gear, I bet he thinks Lewis is one of his exes.” Both Stinkie and Fatso started laughing aloud as Casper stared at them confused.

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Fatso wheezed, to just being interrupted by Casper tapping his arm. The big guy looked at him, finding him frozen, staring at a tall figure behind Stinkie.

Meanwhile this last was still laughing way too much to notice Stretch sending knives at him with a fury glare. Seeing how the other two fell silent, he stopped. He bit his own lips and accepted his fate, sighing and turning around, seeing Stretch holding a golf club. “…You’ve always been way too touchy.” And the next second he knew he was flying towards Seattle…

Stretch quickly pointed the club at the fat brother. “Meeting in 10 minutes.” Fatso gulped and brought his hand to his forehead in an affirmative salute. “And you, Short-sheet...”

Casper was sweating bullets, “Should I prepare some snacks? Want your favorites? And your favorite cocktail?”

“ ** _GEEEEEEEEEEET OOOUUUUUT!!!_** ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [This is the song Lewis is playing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbPUfm_iR2s)
> 
> Everyone, thanks for reading and I wish you all a happy new year!  
> FUCK 2020 **stabs it**


End file.
